booklet 2 Flashcards Preview

Armistice

An agreement to cease fire before drawing up a peace settlement.

Article 48

Gave the Weimar president the power, in and emergency, to rule by decree and to override the constitutional rights of the people.

3

Black Market

The underground economy where goods are sold at unregulated prices.

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Central Powers

The name for Germany and is allies: Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria.

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Constitutional Monarchy

Where the monarchy has limited power within the lines of a constitution.

6

Fatherland Party

Vaterlandspartei. A conservative, right-wing party which supported the government's pursuit of war and annexations.

7

Freikorps

Means "free corps" (soldiers) who acted as paramilitaries. They were right-wing, nationalist soldiers who were only too willing to use force to suppress communist activities.

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KRA

Kriegsrohstoffabteilung: war raw materials department.

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Paramilitary

A force whose function and organisation is similar to the professional military, but it is not considered part of the state's formal armed forces.

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Plebiscite

A vote by the people on one specific issue - like a referendum.

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Proletariat

The industrial working who, in Marxist theory, would ultimately take power in the state.

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Reparations

Payments of money (and gold) and the transfer of property and equipment from the defeated to the victor after war.

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Revolutionary stewards

Obleute. Left-wing activists who organised strikes and demonstrations against the war. The did much to create the worker's councils (soviets) in 1918-19.

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Siegfriede

A victory peace, which would establish Germany's supremacy in Europe.

15

Soviet

A Russian word meaning and elected council. Soviet's developed during the Russian Revolution in 1917. In Germany, many councils were set up in 1918, which had the support of the more radical and revolutionary, left-wing working class.

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Spartacus League

A small group which believed that Germany should follow the same path as communist Russia. The fundamental aim of the Spartacist's was to create a soviet republic based on the rule of the proletariat through worker's and soldier's councils.

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'Stab in the back' myth

The distorted view that the army had not really lost the first world war and that unpatriotic groups, such as socialists and Jews, had undermined the war effort. The myth severely weakened the Weimar democracy from the start.

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Stalemate

A deadlock in war where neither side makes progress.

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Total war

A war that spared neither the military nor the civilian population, forcing Germany to use the power of the state as a means of mobilising its economic potential.

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War bonds

In order to raise money for the war, Imperial Germany encouraged people to invest into government funds in the belief they were helping to finance the war and their savings were secure.

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Weimar Republic

Took its name from the first meeting of the National Constituent assembly at Weimar. The assembly had moved there because there were still many disturbances in Berlin. Weimar was chosen because it was a town with a great historical and cultural tradition.